Developing Migration Policy

Migration requires multidimensional interventions to respond to, manage, and optimize its impacts. A State will ideally respond to migration with a comprehensive suite of coherent evidence-based policies, preferably as part of an overarching national strategy, articulated through a range of fit-for-purpose policy instruments.

The form that policy takes will vary, but the steps of policymaking remain consistent. The goal is to formulate solutions that are lawful, feasible, affordable, and based on the best available evidence. Weight should be given to the national context and migration realities; these will need to be balanced with consideration of regional and international obligations, and with stakeholder interests. In essence, a migration policy seeks to provide a framework, for the myriad stakeholders in the migration process, to enable coherent and, where necessary, coordinated action.

Migration, with all its many dimensions, ranks as a top-tier policy issue (see The global context of international migration). It has multiple drivers and is inextricably connected to other national policy domains and transnational issues. Migration management is led by national governments; however,  governments are often constrained or guided by, and share or delegate roles to, international, regional, and subnational level actors. To add to the complexity, policy stakeholders are many and varied.

Migration policy forms a critical part of migration governance. As noted in the Introduction to International cooperation, migration governance concerns rules and procedures while migration management concerns the implementation of such rules and procedures. Good migration governance supports good migration management.

Developing well-considered, evidence-based and fit-for-purpose migration policy is a necessity in our mobility-rich world. In the absence of such policy, social and economic opportunities are lost; rights, including those of citizens, can be at risk; and public confidence in government and its institutions will be diminished. Migration is happening, and will likely gain momentum. The policy challenge is to formulate coordinated and coherent responses to make it happen well.